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Joe Lewis was one of the big names in square dance calling; he played an accordion that was specially fitted out so that different notes would produce different kinds of sounds, and his big hit was Alabama Jubilee. This live recording (1960) comes from the collection of the Square Dance Foundation of New England.

Alabama Jubilee was a smash hit for Joe Lewis, and the dance was also recorded by a dozen other callers. This clip illustrates one time through the figure along with a lengthy set of closing calls. This dance is used as the introduction to a film clip showing Lewis's triumphal dance trip to Australia in 1952.

This is a fragment of a callers' class led by Joe Lewis; unfortunately, we do not know the location or the date. Lewis comments, "When a lot of people suddenly do the same thing wrong, the caller did it." He focuses a lot of this session on problems of timing the delivery of calls: "If you can't see the timing errors in a singing call and try to…

Joe Lewis modified an accordion and used it to accompany himself on singing calls. He also used it to accompany his singing of songs as an entertainer after (or during) the dance. These two were recorded during a dance in the mid-1950's. Here he performs Frankie and Johnny, and a parody of square dance patter with the tag, "I wish that caller would…